Tank fire extinguishing apparatus



Feb. 4, 1941. c. A. RISENG 2,230,910

TANK FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Filed June 2, 1938 CALVIN A, RISING INV NTO'R ATTORNEY v. a 1 i Patented Feb. 4, 1941 UNlTED STATES TANK FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Calvin A. Rising, Mount Vernon, N. Y., assignor to The- Texas Company, New York, N. Y.-, a corporation of Delaware Application June 2, 1938, Serial No. 211,339

4 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements inappa- Y ratus for extinguishing fires in tanks containing inflammable liquids, and more particularly to the application of fire-foam to burning oil, gasoline or the like which is confined within a storage tank so as to extinguish the fire by smothering it.

Tank fires have for many years proven a problem to the oil industry, due to the fact that it.

has been difficult to introduce oil fire extinguishing material into the tank. The material, which is often termed fire-foam, ordinarily employed in extinguishing oil fires is a foam generally 'composed of bubbles of carbon dioxide contained in a binder of an aqueous solution of organic and inorganic foaming agents, such as licorice, glucose, aluminum hydroxide, or the like. The fire-foam when applied gently to an oil fire floats upon the surface of the oil, forming a more or less impervious blanket which cuts off the supply of air and prevents further vaporization of the oil. It is Well known, however, that if in applying the foam it is forced against the surface of the liquid at high velocity, it becomes admixed with oil, with the result that the foam becomes sloppy and heavy. Consequently, a great loss of efficiency obtains due to the foam being coated with a combustible material which reduces the strength of the bubbles and which oil on the bubbles may be consumed by the fire, causing a dissipation of the foam. Moreover, when the foam is allowed to drop from a considerable distance above the level of the oil, splashing of the oil occurs exposing more of it to the atmosphere, thus creating more vapor and intensifying the fire at a point of introduction of the foam. This concentration of heat will tend to destroy a large amount of the foam necessitating the supplying of an additional quantity to form an effectiveblanket.

The principal object of my invention is to provide oil tank fire extinguishing apparatus which is simple to construct and assemble and which may be used with safety by those engaging in extinguishing the fire.

Another object of my invention is to provide an apparatus which will more effectively apply firefoam to burning oil in a tank.

In carrying out my invention I have provided two towers adapted to be erectedmore or lessat opposite sides of a tank, with a cable or wire con- 'necting the upper ends of the towers. A pulley carrying a non-inflammable fire hose is suspended from the cable and suitable cables are attached to the hose to conduct it to the desired location over the tank. In order to reduce the velocity.of the foam at the point of introduction to the oil, the outlet end of the hose is closed, and just above the closed end a number of perfora tions are formed in the hose and an inverted noninflammable funnel-shaped member is attached to the hose so as to surround the' perforations. By this arrangement the foam will be directed against the inverted funnel and will flow down the sides of the funnel smoothly and will not cause excessive mixing of the oil and foam.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side view of the apparatus;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of one of the towers or supports;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the discharge end of the foam hose showing the funnel-shaped member in section;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a tank farm showing an arrangement of towers; and

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the pulley for supporting the hose.

Referring to the drawing, a" pair of towers I 0 and I2 are adapted to be erected at opposite sides of a tank containing burning oil or other liquid. The upper end of the tower I0 is connected to the upper end of the second tower I! by means of a cable It. The cable l4 preferably passes over a pulley l6 secured to the upper end of one of the towers and extends to the ground so that it can be easily tightened and secured to a fastening device I8. The towers may be erected at any suitable locations in a manner such that the cable M will pass over the desired portion of the tank 20, and the towers may be held in place by suitable guy wires or stays 22. A pulley 24 carrying hose 26is suspended by means of supports 28 from a smaller pulley 30 arranged to travel on the cable [4.

In order to move the pulley 24 to a position over the tank 20, another cable 32 is attached at a point between its ends to one of the pulley supports 28 and the cable 32 then passes substantially parallel to the cable l4 and over a pair of pulleys 34 to the ground near the base of the towers I0 and I2. By pulling on the proper end of the cable 32 the pulley 24 can be moved along the cable I4 so as to position the discharge end of r the hose 26 at the proper place over the tank 20. A third cable 38 is attached at one end to the hose 26 at a point several feet back of the end of the hose and passes over a pulley 38 also supported from the pulley 30 and then to the ground near the base of the tower I 0. By pulling on the is at the proper location, the hose is connected to a supply of a fire extinguishing material such as foam (not shown) and the foam is forced.

through the hose.

The velocity of the foam discharged from the hose may be reduced materially by the arrangement shown in Figure 3. In this arrangement, a

tubular member 40 having a,closed end 42 is inserted in the end of the hose 26 and is provided with holes 44 in suflicient number and of a suitable diameter to avoid breaking up of the foam, and a funnel-shaped hood 46 which is se- 7 cured to the tubular member and surrounds the perforated portion. The foam will thus be directed outwardly toward the hood and striking the sides thereof will fall gently and smoothly to the surface of the burning liquid. If desired, the tubular member 40 can be dispensed with and the holes 44 can be formed in the hose itself, the hood then being attached directly to the hose which will be closed at its discharge end.

As shown in Figure 2, the towers H] and I2 are preferably in the form of ladders, constructcd of comparatively light metal and having side members 48 and rungs or cross braces 50. The towers can be erected from any angle, the cable 14 being of such length as to enable it to be tightened from the ground after the towers are in position. The hose may be of asbestos or other suitable fire resistant material.

Instead of using towers I and I2 of the same height, the tower I2 can be shorter than tower I0 so that when the pulley 30 is' placed on the cable M near tower I0 it will slide by gravity toward the other tower and thus carry the hose 26 with it. The cable 36 can be used to hold the pulley and hose directly over the burning tank. In this manner the cable 32 could be dispensed with.

Instead of erecting the towers near a burning tank, these towers may be previously erected near a tank adapted to contain an inflammable liquid or they may be distributed throughout a tank farm and the cables stretched between the towers so that each tank on the farm will have one cable passing over it. As shown in Figure 4, a plurality of uprights or towers 52 and 53 are disposed about a tank farm comprising a group of tanks 54 so that cables 56 con-- necting the upper ends of the towers will pass over the tanks located between pairs of towers. These towers and cables will also afford efiicient lightning protection to the tanks of the farm. In the arrangement of Figure 4 the towers 53 can be either higher or lower than towers 52. In case of a fire in any one tank it will then be necessary merely to place the pulley 30 and the hose 26 over the proper cable 56 and allow it to slide down over the burning tank. Instead of using towers of different heights. towers of the same height may be used and the pulley and nozzle of the hose pulled over the tank by means of another cable corresponding to cable 32 of Figure 1. g

In another modification, the towers I0 and I2 could be mounted on trucks or wheels (not shown) and driven or pulled to proper positions at opposite sides of a burning tank, after which the cable l4 could be pulled tight and the apparatus used as previously described. In this case the towers could be of a hinged or telescoping type so as not to interfere with other elevated structures while being moved about.

Although the apparatus of my invention is quickly and easily assembled, it may, of course, be several minutes before the equipment is brought to the scene of the fire, and experience has shown that the amount of foam required for extinguishing the fire when there is a layer of hot oil on the surface can be materially reduced by first cooling the liquid surface with water streams, after which no more foam is required for extinguishing than if it had been applied immediately after ignition. This point is explained by the fact that if the oil at the surface isabove 212 F., boiling of the water in the foam will occur with the resulting destruction of I a substantial portion of the foam.

It has been found that supplying foam or water on viscous oil that is heated above the boiling point of water is attended with serious danger of slopover. If the foam can not be placed on such oil in the early stages of a fire, the heat wave that would normally form may be prevented by spraying water over the surface of the oil as soon after inception of the fire as possible. If this practice is adopted the fire can be readily controlled when foam is available.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the invention may be made Without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for extinguishing a fire in a tank, the combination which comprises a tower, a second tower, said towers being disposed at substantially opposite sides of said tank, means for connecting the upper ends of said towers, a hose having its outlet end slidably suspended. from said connecting means, means for connecting said hose to a source of fire-foam, said hose being closed at its outlet end and having a perforated portion above said outlet end, an outwardly flaring cone-shaped deflector attached to said hose and surrounding said perforated portion, and means for moving the outlet end of said hose along said connecting means to a position over said tank.

2. In combination with a flexible hose adapted to be lowered to a point above a quantity of burning oil in a tank so as to conduct fire-foam to said oil, a nozzle connected to the discharge end of said hose, said nozzle being closed at its discharge end and having a plurality of perforations above the discharge end, an outwardly flaring hood connected to said nozzle and surrounding said perforations in a manner such that a stream of liquid or foam forced through said perforations will be directed downwardly by the hood so as to fall at relatively low velocity upon the oil in said tank.

3. An apparatus for extinguishing a fire in a tank of inflammable liquid comprising a pair of elongated supporting structures adapted to be positioned near opposite sides of said tank, a cable connecting the upper ends of said structures and extending over the top of the tank, a flexible conduit having its inlet end connected to a source of fire extinguishing material, a pulley for suspending the outlet end of said conduit from said cable in adjustable vertical relation, means for positioning said pulley on said cable with the outlet end of said conduit at a desired point over and above the liquid in said tank, said positioning means comprising a sec- 0nd pulley mounted near the top of one of said structures, and a second cable attached to said first named pulley and passing over said second pulley to a point near the ground, and means opposite sides of said tank, a cable connecting' the upper ends of said towers and extending over the top of the tank, a flexible conduit connected point near the ground.-

to a source of tire extinguishing material and having a discharge end. a pulley mounted on said cable, a second pulley suspended from said first named pulley and adapted to support said conduit, a third pulley supported from said first named pulley, means for moving said pulleys along said cable so that the discharge end of the conduit may be positioned over said tank and means for adjusting the height of said discharge end with respect to the height of the liquid in the tank comprising a cable attached to said conduit and passing over said third pulley to a cALviN A. RISING. 

